It's been a hell of a year with a lot of frustrating and heartbreaking moments. This clever Asian American take on the Mannequin Challenge, entitled "A-Woke," attempts to sum it up with some perspective. Produced by Michael Tow and Teja Arboleda, it plays kind of like a "greatest hits" of some of the high profile issues and pop culture flare-ups that have recently gripped the Asian American community.
It's by no means comprehensive -- it's almost entirely East Asian-focused -- but it manages to jam in references to the Academy Awards, Doctor Strange, "Watters World," Ghost in the Shell and more in less than a minute and a half. It's like a weird wax museum of some of your favorite racist bullshit from 2016.
Check it out:
If you didn't quite get all the references, here's the breakdown:
1. Chris Rock's joke with those Asian kids at the Academy Awards. Asians kids -- they're good at math!
2. Tilda Swinton starring as The Ancient One in Marvel's Doctor Strange.
3. Jesse Watters' racist-as-hell segment for Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, in which ventured into Chinatown with the express purpose of mocking Asians and invoking every cheap stereotype imaginable.
4. During a the Illinois Senate debate, Republican Senator Mark Kirk mocked opponent Tammy Duckworth's military and ethnic background -- a heritage that traces back to the American Revolution.
5. The Brazilian staff of Glamour magazine went to Japan, so of course they commemorated their trip by posing for an Instagram photo while bowing and doing the "slant eye." Of course.
6. Scarlett Johansson stars as the Japanese Super Robot Lady in the live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell.
7. While accepting his Emmy award for Master of None, writer/producer Alan Yang calls out the shameful historical dearth of Asian representation in Hollywood.
Like I said, hell of a year. And we've still got work to do.
